concentration camp

noun

: a place where large numbers of people (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or the members of an ethnic or religious minority) are detained or confined under armed guard

—used especially in reference to camps created by the Nazis in World War II for the internment and persecution of Jews and other prisoners

The Nazi soldiers hauled [Mordechai] Strigler off to a concentration camp, and carved swastikas into his cheeks and forehead with a razor blade. Over the next five years, he was sent from one concentration camp or slave-labor camp to another.

—David Remnick

She ended up dying in a concentration camp, just a few months before she would have been liberated.

—Marilyn Reynolds

The V2 killed thousands of British civilians while 20,000 concentration camp inmates died as slave labourers during its manufacture in the closing stages of the second world war.

—Anna Tomforde et al.

see also death camp

Examples of concentration camp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Indeed, concentration camps prove to be a viable political option with a friendly Supreme Court ready to affirm President Cadwallader’s unprecedented use of executive orders. —Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025

The federal government imprisoned Hibi and Okubo in concentration camps, first in California and then in Utah; Hayakawa relocated to New Mexico. —Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025

Almond and his collaborators, including this season's artist-in-residence, cellist Alexander Hersh, will performs works by Erwin Schulhoff and Viktor Ullmann, who both died in concentration camps. —Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 30 Aug. 2025

But the concentration camp inmates couldn’t digest the food, and hundreds of them actually died from refeeding syndrome. —Elizabeth Yuko, Rolling Stone, 25 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for concentration camp

• amp
• champ
• clamp
• cramp
• damp
• gamp
• lamp
• ramp
• samp
• scamp
• stamp
• tamp

Kids Definition

concentration camp

noun

: a camp where persons (as prisoners of war, political prisoners, or refugees) are detained